Azamat Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev were charged with conspiring to obstruct justice by concealing and destroying evidence.

BOSTON -

The three people arrested Wednesday and charged in connection with the Boston Marathon bombings were classmates of suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, and they allegedly tried to keep their friend out of trouble in the days after the fatal attacks.

Azamat Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev were charged with conspiring to obstruct justice, Robel Phillipos, of Cambridge, was charged with lying to investigators about going to Tsarnaev's dorm at the University of Dartmouth.

Officials allege they removed a backpack that had fireworks emptied of gunpowder from Tsarnaev's dorm room. The FBI said Tazhayakov and Kadyrbayev threw the backpack in the garbage, and it was later found in a landfill.

Phillipos' family, who is of Ethiopian descent, came to the United States more than 10 years ago. Friends say he became close with the alleged bomber while they both attended Cambridge Rindge and Latin and University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.

Phillipos lives within yards of the Cambridge gas station where the carjacking victim allegedly taken hostage by the Tsarnaev brothers escaped.

Tazhayakov and Kadyrbayev, who are from Kazakhstan, also attended UMass Dartmouth, according to the FBI. In court papers, the FBI said Dzhokhar Tsarnaev told the pair he knew how to make a bomb.

"They all spoke the same language. Maybe they came from neighboring countries. It's kind of the bonding factor between them, I think," student Raja Nageswaran said.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, and his brother, Tamerlan, are accused of setting off two bombs near the finish line of the Boston Marathon on April 15. Three people were killed and more than 260 others were injured. Tamerlan was killed during a standoff with police in Watertown days after the attacks.

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